Top 10: Philosophers

You know those T-shirts they sell at flea markets with stuff like "To err is human but to moo is bovine" written on it? Well, when you think about it, this is philosophy of the pedestrian variety. A real philosopher is someone who analyzes life and the human experience in search of meaning and enlightenment.

There have been people throughout the ages who searched for wisdom in a world of chaos, making sense of our lives, John Dewey and Bertrand Russell being prime examples. Many philosophers have left a mark in history, but which ones have stood the test of time?

Number 10

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 — 1527)

Contrary to the other entries on the list, Machiavelli wasn't in search of the Ultimate Truth. An Italian political theorist and statesman, he was more interested in the practical side of things. In 1512, there was a coup in the Florence Republic and the Medici family returned to power.

In order to ingratiate himself with the ruler, which had him branded as a traitor, Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513. It was basically a how-to guidebook about how to use absolute power to achieve political strength. Fundamentally, Machiavelli, who like many Renaissance thinkers believed that man was free to choose his own destiny, advocated the fact that the end justifies the means, moral consequences be damned. He also wrote The Art of War (not to be confused with Sun Tzu's book of the same name) and The Life of Castruccio Castracani .

Famed quote: "There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others."

Number 9

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 — 1980)

Some philosophers exist on an elitist plane where it takes a Ph.D. to understand what they're talking about. Sartre was different in that he wrote a series of works, most notably stage plays, such as No Exit , which were targeted at the general public. His main area of study was existentialism (he was one of the founders of the philosophy), as Being and Nothingness clearly indicates.

Sartre always wondered what the difference between being and being a human being is. Very close to the ideas proposed by Karl Marx, he believed that man is "condemned to be free" and that making free choices is a great responsibility. However, the experience of World War II taught him to be more optimistic about the future of mankind.

Famed quote: "Hell is other people."

Number 8

Michel Foucault (1926 — 1984)

Like all great philosophers, Foucault didn't pretend to know all the answers. This Frenchman was an academic who constantly questioned the nature of things. With interests in human nature, he rejected common assumptions and chose instead to study how humans and science functioned in society, using history and sociology to reach his conclusions.

He believed that the concept of madness is purely an invention of the Age of Reason. In books like Madness and Civilization and The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences , he theorized that there exist multiple reasons for anything that happens in life, in any given historical society. Moreover, one of his most famous hypotheses is that man, because of the incredible advancement made in all fields of knowledge in the past two centuries, is soon bound to be extinct.

Famed quote: "In its function, the power to punish is not essentially different from that of curing or educating."

Don't let Confucius confuse you and check out what Socrates believed...